Germany's long-planned Munich-Berlin high speed line opened last weekend with a few glitches, new fast schedules for many trains, and a raft of fare increases.
The new route for rail operator Deutsche Bahn's ICE trains cuts more than a third off the time for trains between the two cities, reducing the time to just under four hours, with similar reduction for other cities along the way. The line allows trains to operate at speeds up to 300 km/h. There will also be some schedule changes for trains not using the new line, but no longer having to be scheduled around those trains.
On the flip side, however, DB is raising ticket prices, although special discount 'sparpreis' tickets and fares for some discount rail cards will not go up. Regular ICE tickets will go up 2.9% for first-class and 1.9% for second. Tickets on regional trains will go up 2.3%
Photo: Mattbuck / Wikimedia
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